SunPower Corp. is following through with a planned restructuring effort that will reduce its workforce by 25 percent to cut costs after solar prices plunged in an oversupplied market.[...][Published in GreenNews - Read

U.S. Wind Inc. applied Nov. 30 to the Maryland Public Service Commission for approval to develop a 750-MW wind farm project off the coast of Maryland, and is also seeking offshore renewable energy credits (ORECs) for approximately 248 MW of the project.[...][Published in GreenNews - Read

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Scott Pruitt, Donald Trump's pick to head the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, has fought President Barack Obama’s measures to curb climate change at every turn as attorney general of Oklahoma. Now he is hoping to take apart Obama's environmental legacy from the inside out, a task that could prove tougher than it sounds. […]

Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees Country: Iraq, Syrian Arab Republic KEY FIGURES 82,698 People displaced from Mosul and surrounding areas since the military offensive began on 17 October 11,811 UNHCR[...]

[SAnews.gov.za] Pretoria -President Jacob Zuma has signed proclamations authorising the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to investigate certain matters in respect of the affairs of two district municipalities and a provincial department.[...][Published in AidNews - Read the[...]

[VOA] The Catholic Church is hosting last-minute negotiations in the Democratic Republic of Congo in hopes a crisis can be avoided when President Joseph Kabila's second term ends December 19.[...][Published in AidNews - Read the original article]

Established in 2011, BLA was a 4-year project funded by the Feed the Future (FTF) initiative and implemented by Community Markets for Conservation Ltd. (COMACO) in the Luangwa valley in the Eastern Province of Zambia (Figure 1). BLA aimed to achieve poverty reduction, sustainable land management, and improved conservation by linking smallholder farmers to ma […]

[News24Wire] Former SABC CEO Lulama Mokhobo received threats before giving testimony at Parliament's ad hoc committee looking into the public broadcaster's board, she has said.[...][Published in AidNews - Read the original article]

Source: UN Women Country: Iraq 7th December, 2016, The UN Women Iraq team went on mission near eastern Mosul this week to distribute 3,000 high thermal blankets to women and girls in two camps. Women and girls have mentioned freezing temperatures at night in the camps. UN Women has also distributed necessity kits for 20,000 individuals containing socks, soap […]

Most attention to climate change mitigation in the agriculture sector has focused on technical and policy options for changing production rather than consumption. Yet significant opportunities for mitigation exist in shifting food consumption patterns. In many cases these options could also improve health, food security and other environmental outcomes.Measu […]

Source: WaterAid Country: Nigeria Imagine a doctor’s surgery with gallons of water lined up in jerry cans, purchased because the taps are dry. Lab technicians washing out excrement samples in hand basins without running water. As many as 40 patients a day with only one fetid, backed-up toilet in which to relieve themselves. Nigeria boasts the fastest-growing […]

By modifying management of rice plants, soil, water and nutrients to improve growth environments, farmers can get higher-yielding, more vigorous and resilient plants nurtured by larger root systems and greater diversity/abundance of beneficial soil organisms. More productive phenotypes from available genotypes enhance farmers’ income and security while reduc […]

Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees Country: Greece, World With the onset of winter, improving living conditions for asylum-seekers and migrants continues to be the number one priority for humanitarian actors in Greece. It is also still a major challenge. People living in tents out in the open have been moved to alternative accommodation and UNHCR’s[.. […]

[Guardian] Abuja -The House of Representatives is seeking to compel the president and governors to nominate their ministers and commissioners within 30 days of being sworn in.[...][Published in AidNews - Read the original article]

This brief summarizes the findings of a project output for the Policy Information and Response Platform on Climate Change and Rice in ASEAN and its Member Countries (PIRCCA), being implemented by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). The report focuses on theresults of the survey conducted in the first half of 2015 on climate change perception an […]

Source: Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Country: Ukraine An OSCE-supported Human Rights Calendar was presented at Ukraine’s Ministry of Education and Science during the joint OSCE-Council of Europe event on 9 December 2016 in Kyiv. Developed by a multi-stakeholder working group, convened by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine, the[. […]

A federal judge is set to consider halting Wisconsin's presidential recount. Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton by more than 22,000 votes in the state. Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein requested the recount to determine if election machines were hacked. Two pro-Trump groups, the Great America PAC and the Stop Hillary PAC, filed a feder […]

More than 1,000 Russian athletes competing in summer, winter and paralympic sport were involved in or benefited from an institutional conspiracy to conceal positive doping tests, a WADA report said on Friday. The second part of a report by Canadian sports lawyer Richard McLaren provided more details of an elaborate state-sponsored doping scheme operated by R […]

China is showing no sign of easing its crackdown on the nation’s rights defenders. Earlier this week, rights lawyer Li Heping was officially indicted, and the whereabouts of three other rights activists, including public interest lawyer Jiang Tianyong, are unknown more than two weeks after they disappeared. Li’s wife, Wang Qianling, learned of her husband’s […]

A Dutch court has convicted anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders of hate speech, a ruling that he branded a politically motivated “charade'' and a "big loss for freedom of speech.” Presiding Judge Hendrik Steenhuis said Friday the court would not impose a sentence because the conviction was punishment enough for a democratically elected lawmake […]

A 42-hour gunbattle ended in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Friday after two suspected rebels were killed in the fighting, which triggered massive anti-India protests in the disputed region. A police officer said soldiers recovered the bodies of the two suspected militants from the debris of a destroyed house in southern Arwani village. The officer, speaking o […]

Egypt's state-run news agency says an explosion in Cairo has killed six police and wounded another three. MENA says the explosion took place early Friday on Pyramids road, the main avenue leading from the city center out to the Giza pyramids. It says the blast targeted security forces, without elaborating on what caused the explosion. Reuters reported t […]

Felix Benneckenstein was a rising star on Germany’s far-right scene, a young songwriter whose rousing guitar anthems made white nationalism sound romantic and rebellious. But when fellow neo-Nazis attacked a friend, Benneckenstein found the doubts he’d ignored for years coming to the surface. “It was a rude awakening,” he recalled. “You have an idea of what […]

A cost estimate to clean up Japan's wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant has doubled to nearly 22 trillion yen ($190 billion), with decommissioning costs expected to continue to rise, according to a government panel Friday. The estimate raises the decommissioning part of the total costs to 8 trillion yen ($70 billion) from the current 2 trillion ($17.5 bill […]

Relations between the United States and one of its oldest allies, the Philippines, show signs of returning to normal after a crisis in September when the president in Manila demanded Washington withdraw military support and talked of a deeper break in ties with the superpower. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump congratulated Philippine President Rodrigo Duter […]

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump put $66 million of his own money into the presidential campaign, according to disclosures filed Thursday night. Federal Election Commission reports say that in the final days of the campaign, Trump spent $94 million dollars, while his opponent, Hillary Clinton - who had a larger campaign fund than Trump - spent $132 million […]

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter arrived in Afghanistan Friday for a holiday season visit to thank American troops for their service to the nation. Carter is scheduled to receive an update on NATO and U.S. efforts to support Afghan security forces and meet with senior Afghan officials, including President Ashraf Ghani. In addition to several engagements wit […]

The South Korean National Assembly has voted to impeach President Park Geun-hye. With 234 of the parliament's 300 members voting Friday for impeachment, the measure gained more than the two-thirds majority support needed. The stunning and sudden collapse of Park’s presidency was caused by recent allegations that a multi-million dollar influence peddling […]

The Khan Lab School, founded by Salman Khan, is an experimental school in Silicon Valley, California, that disrupts the conventional educational model. His Khan Academy, which offers free online education to anyone, anywhere, is reaching out to tens of millions of learners through its online lectures. VOA reporter Saqib Ul Islam visited Khan to find out more […]

Hundreds of customers who come to pick up popular local savories at Satnam Singh’s shop in a bustling market in New Delhi used to hand out cash for their purchases, usually amounting to $2 to $5. But his sales plunged after massive currency shortages hit India following last month’s ban on high value denomination notes. Realizing that people did not have cas […]

Automation and some trade deals have cost the United States millions of manufacturing jobs, leaving many people unemployed. Meanwhile, U.S. companies can't find people with technical skills for jobs that pay well. As VOA's Jim Randle reports, one U.S. firm is using apprenticeships to build a high-tech workforce.

This week, Google announced it will be run entirely on renewable energy by 2017. And the amount of solar power being harnessed is rising exponentially. Just a few months ago, India opened one of the largest solar farms in the world to take advantage of this increasingly cheap, plentiful power. VOA's Kevin Enochs reports.

Scientists have created pressure detectors so sensitive, they respond to the footsteps of a spider. This advance combines the latest in nanotechnology with a decades-old children's toy. VOA's Steve Baragona has more.

Andrew Puzder, President-elect Donald Trump’s choice as labor secretary is a wealthy businessman and elite donor to Trump’s campaign. Puzder, 66, is the head of CKE Restaurants Holdings, the parent company of Carl’s Jr., Hardee’s and other chains. In 2010, he published a book called Job Creation: How it Really Works and Why Government Doesn’t Understand It. […]

Employing a startup style, Khan Lab School brings back one-room concept to teach young students Silicon Valley, known for its innovative tech companies and startups, also is the birthplace of an experimental school that is disrupting the traditional concept of education. Twelve-year-old Mishal Junaid loves the unconventional methods of this Khan Lab School. […]

In his psychological drama, Jackie, Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larrain paints an impressionistic portrait of First Lady Jackie Kennedy during the first days after her husband’s assassination on November 22, 1963. The film relies on anecdotal stories, newspaper clippings and archival footage and it is a cinematic attempt to peel off Jackie’s complex personality […]

webdesk@voanews.com (Penelope Poulou)

Dr.Ibrahim H. Abukar For President

Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival.

No Place for Children

SOMALIA NEWS

This week, as part the UK’s Presidency of the G8, Foreign Ministers will meet to discuss the need to encourage the International Financial Institutions (IFIs) to re-engage in Somalia. The G8 countries are some of the largest shareholders in both the World Bank and the IMF. As a result, the UK is using its Presidency […]

Last Thursday, the Federal Government of Somalia, together with the UK, hosted the latest meeting with a number of key international partners in Mogadishu. The location was significant. This was the first time such a meeting had been held in Mogadishu since the Federal Government came to power last year. It was a real demonstration […]

International Women’s Day is a global opportunity to celebrate and promote the rights of women. It is a chance for all of us, men and women, to unite under a single, common aim – gender equality. This is particularly pertinent in Somalia. Everyone in Somalia has suffered from decades of often unrelenting conflict. But Somalia’s […]

In the lead up to International Women’s Day on Friday, we are featuring the stories of women who work for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office as guest posts across the FCO bloggers’ network. Jane Stevens and Tracey McLelland are a successful job sharing duo who are part of the communications team working on the upcoming […]

A year ago, few predicted that Somalia would see such significant changes; yet 2012 saw some real progress in Somalia – including the end of the Transition; a new Parliament (with a significant number of new MPs); the election of a new, reform-minded Speaker and President and a desire for a different type of politics. […]

Earlier this year, the British Foreign Secretary William Hague MP, announced a new initiative to prevent sexual violence against women. It aims to strengthen international efforts and coordination to prevent and respond to sexual violence, to erode the existing culture of impunity, to increase the number of perpetrators brought to justice and to support stat […]

So the final piece of the post-Transition jigsaw has finally fallen into place. Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon’s 10-person Council of Minister is now approved – overwhelmingly – by Parliament and with it, the final act of a two-month process to find Somalia’s new leaders. Put before Parliament last week, their near-unanimous approval of the […] […]

Yesterday, Somalia marked a major milestone in its recent history. After two decades of civil war, and a year after the Roadmap was agreed, the Transitional Period finally concluded with the election by MPs of new President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud. This was the first such election inside Somalia for many years and came just weeks after […]

On Monday, Somalia marked a significant milestone in its history. Twenty years after the country fell into conflict, a new Federal Parliament was inaugurated – paving the way to end the Transition in the next few days, and opening the first legislature to be formed inside Somalia since 1991. This is a huge achievement, both for the […]

The following is a guest blog by Fionna Gibb, Deputy Head of Mission at the British Office for Somalia. As Ambassador Matt Baugh is on leave, last Friday I had the pleasure of hosting the British Office for Somalia’s reception in Mogadishu to celebrate the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics. As the sun set […]

Somalia: Amisom Withdrawal From Somalia DelayedAllAfrica.comAfrican leaders are facing a dilemma over plans to start withdrawing peacekeepers from Somalia by October 2018, because there is no guarantee that the country will have been pacified by then. The drawdown, to be completed in 2020, is high on the agenda ...altro »

EU contributes €1 million EUR to IMF Somalia Trust FundReliefWebNairobi, 9 December 2017 – The EU has contributed €1 million EUR to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Somalia Trust Fund as part of its long-standing commitment to support economic governance and capacity development in Somalia. The EU support ...altro »

Minnesota Public Radio NewsA look at the unraveling and the reclaiming of SomaliaMinnesota Public Radio NewsNur is at the center of a new book, "The Mayor of Mogadishu," that looks at the unraveling of Somalia, and the efforts to reclaim it. BBC foreign correspondent Andrew Harding uses Nur's story to paint a picture of the loss and redemption […]

Times LIVESomalia: Presidential Election Postponed for Fourth TimeAllAfrica.comAfter in-depth talks, the east African country's top leaders have released a joint communiqué on the upcoming presidential and ongoing parliamentary elections. According to the communiqué, Somalia's presidential elections scheduled for 15 December have ...Somalia sets ye […]

Somalia to Usher in Most Diversed Parliament in History.AllAfrica.comA close ally of President Hassan Sheikh he is a political figure that has been around since 2012 when he was nominated in to the Federal Parliament of Somalia and his political experience includes a portfolio as Minister of Justice in 2014 where he ...

Uganda Sends 2745 Troops to SomaliaAllAfrica.comThe Uganda People's Defense Forces (UPDF) has commissioned 2,745 new soldiers to Somalia to replace an equal number of fighters who have been recalled from the battlefield after serving for one year. The first batch of 80 soldiers left Entebbe Airport ...altro »

Somali Islamic scholars pledge support for immunizationReliefWebA National Islamic Advisory Group has been established in Somalia to support polio eradication and routine immunization. Somali Islamic scholars held a two day meeting in December to discuss the state of polio eradication and how to protect Somali ...

STRATFORThe Rise and Fall of the Somali StateSTRATFORSomalia is often perceived as the quintessential failed state, perpetually ripped apart by internal conflict and competing clan structures, but this has not always been the case. Before its civil war, which has been raging for almost three decades ...Castro's troubled legacy in the Horn of Africa: her […]

NewsweekSomalia: Seven Militants Killed in First Military Clash With ISIS-Aligned ForcesNewsweekThe governor of Bari, a region in the semi-autonomous Puntland state in northeastern Somalia, told Voice of America's (VOA) Somali service that Puntland security forces had killed seven militants after encountering a landmine laid by the group, which ...Somal […]

Horseed MediaUPDF sends 2700 new troops to SomaliaHorseed MediaUganda sent 2745 new troops in the latest deployment to the volatile Somalia ahead of the presidential elections. The new troops deployed under Uganda Battle Group 20 will be charged with ensuring security during the presidential elections which have ...

The Kenyan government has postponed its closure of the Dadaab refugee camp by six months, but the reprieve does not reverse its ultimate decision to send home 261,000 Somali refugees, despite the loud protest by human rights groups. The international community appears to have given up on a search for an alternative to closing Dadaab, even though the mass ret […]

No one chooses to flee their home. I fled my country, Somalia, at a young age and ended up in one of Kenya’s Dadaab refugee camps where I spent many years. It was never our choice to leave and I would like nothing more than to return home. As world leaders gather at the UN General Assembly next week to address refugee and migration crises around the world, […]

Musa Rashid had fought for a year with the Somali jihadist group al-Shabab until, disillusioned, he returned home to Kenya. Part of the lure was a government amnesty for those who renounced violence, and the promise of support to settle back into his Majengo neighbourhood, a low-income suburb of the capital, Nairobi. Rashid, 40, saw it as a chance to restart […]

What does a terrorist look like? No such archetype exists of course, but you certainly wouldn’t figure somebody like Mohammed Abdi*. Yet the slight, middle-aged man with a neatly trimmed beard was until 18 months ago a member of the Somali jihadist group al-Shabab – albeit in its finance department. He joined willingly. The former shopkeeper heard a sermon […]

In mid-April a boat capsized crossing the Mediterranean killing up to 500 migrants, a large proportion of whom most international media reported as being Somali. But in Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland, local media noted how many who died were actually Somalilanders. Since 1991, and its proclamation of independence following a civil war that resulted in a […]

In the middle of a blistering June afternoon on the busy docks of the Port of Djibouti, Aouleed crouches down on his haunches in the shade of a lorry, arms outstretched resting on his knees; his head, wrapped in a wet rag, lolling. He hasn’t had anything to drink or eat since the sun rose around 6 a.m. Ramadan, which began on 6 June with the sighting of the […]

The problem for African peacekeeping is not so much where to find the boots to put on the ground, but how to pay for them – not to mention the helicopters, intelligence-gathering and technology crucial to conducting modern military operations and dealing with the new security threats on the horizon. Since 2002, none of the five African Union peace operatio […]

Kenya has called on the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, to help develop a plan for the repatriation of 315,000 Somalis from its sprawling Dadaab refugee complex – a move that might allow the extension of a controversial and unlikely November deadline for their return. UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi told a press conference in Nairobi on Monday […]

Sitting on parched ground pummelled by the sun, a camel looks on majestically as pastoralists mill around it in a whirl of activity. Loaded onto its back are sacks of grains and pulses, yellow jerry cans, bottles of cooking oil, bits of fabric and plastic to make rough bivouac structures, and more. After a final check of ropes, a woman makes a loud purring n […]

If the Kenyan government is bluffing over its announcement that it will close Dadaab refugee camp by November and repatriate 350,000 Somalis back across the border, then it’s a more elaborate ruse than usual. Consider this: it has gone to the trouble of getting the African Union’s Peace and Security Council to declare that Dadaab constitutes “a serious thr […]